The exclusive right to print the present toithorized version has been claimed by the crown, ever since the date of its first publication, and tinder this royal prerogative, the 13. is printed in different forms, and sold wholesale by certain patentees and licensees in England, Scotland, and Ireland. This claim, which does not practically affect Bibles with notes, has lately been much demonstrated against as a monopoly injurious to the free circulation of the Scriptures at a moderate price, and a modification is now looked for (see BOOK TRADE).
The more liberal Catholics—especially the Jansenists De Sacy, Arnauld, and Nicole; the enlightened Richard Simon and QuesneP-also shared in the common zeal for diffus ing a knowledge of the Scriptures; but . though many versions have been prepared by Catholics, the Romish church has consistently maintained an opposition to the general circulation of Holy Scripture without ecclesiastical comments.
The numerous recent translations of the :3eriptures Into languages beyond the pale of Christendom, have been executed chiefly under the auspices of missionary and bible societies (q.v.).
As to the contents of the B., its one grand object, under whatever form it may appear in the various to give an account of this world, both in its origin and govern. nient, as the work of an Almighty Creator, always mind everywhere present; and espe cially to exhibit the relation of num to this Creator, and, in consequence of that relation; in what manner and with what hopes lie ought to live and the—subjects undeniably the most momentous that can occupy human thought. The sacred hooks of other religionA
have all an analogous aim; to account, namely, for the origin of all thing's, and to explain the nature and human relations of that something ch7rine, which it is an instinct of the human mind to conceive as actuating and controlling all that moves. But so dif ferent. so immeasurably superior to all other sacred hooks is the B. in the conception it unfolds of the divine nature as one personal God, exercising towards men the love and care of a parent to his offspring, and in the system of human duties springing there from, that on this consideration alone many rest its claim to being received as a direct revelation from heaven. The questions regarding the B.,. considered in this point of view, fall to be treated under the heads of INSPIRATION and BEvELATiox. To attempt to analyze or give any detailed account of the contents of the Scriptures, is beyond the scope of this article. The leading features of the'doctrines and precepts, as a system, will be briefly sketched under the head of CHRISTIANITY; while the chief individual doctrines receive notice under their respective names, and in the accounts of the con troversies to which they have given rise.